Directory: Characters → Deities → DragonsShenron (神龍; lit. "Holy Dragon" or "God Dragon") is a magical dragon from the manga Dragon Ball, as well as the animes Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT. In the English dub of Dragon Ball Z, he is mostly called the "Eternal Dragon" and, in the early Harmony Gold Dragon Ball English dub from the 1980s, he is known as the "Dragon God."

Contents

Overview

Shenron is shown with the horns of a stag, sharp teeth, green scaly skin, red eyes, four toes on each foot, a long serpentine body (his tail takes up three-fourths of his length), long flowing whiskers, a long snout, crescent shaped nostrils, and flowing green hair on his cheeks. He is an Eastern dragon, whose kind are benevolent and sacred in Oriental mythologies. Unlike the Western dragons, which have large dorsal foldable wings on their backs, he has none. His kind are good at heart, but as a strong dragon, he has an aggressive temper, and is impatient sometimes (for some reason more so than Porunga, the Namekian Dragon).

Shenron as he appears in Dragon Ball

Shenron can be summoned by gathering all seven of the Dragon Balls of Earth. According to the back of the "Saga of Goku" boxed set, Shenron dwells in a raging fire deep inside the Earth's core when the Dragon Balls are currently not being used. Shenron can bestow any wish as long as it does not exceed the power of his creator, who must be still alive (i.e. Kami/Piccolo or Dende). Shenron is shown to have a temper, and he once threatened to kill a summoner if they do not make their wish soon (although he has only actually attempted to attack someone in Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, where Gohan's friendly dragon Icarus tries to attack Shenron). According to Goku, Shenron cannot (or will not) grant the same wish more than once. The Dragon Balls cannot be used for one year after a wish is made, as they turn to stone. The Earth Dragon Balls are relatively small, each about the size of a large orange. The Shenron of the Black Star Dragon Balls is red, opposed to the Shenron of Earth who is green. Unlike Porunga, Shenron can only grant one wish per summoning, until Dende upgrades him to grant three wishes (two if a large amount of people are revived with one of the wishes).

Shenron can wish back more than one person per wish provided that: (1) they died less than a year before the summoning, (2) died under the same circumstance (e.g. killed by a certain villain), and (3) have not already been wished back before. This is used to revive the victims of many villains, such as King Piccolo and his men, Frieza and his men, and Cell.

Biography

Pre-Dragon Ball

Shenron is said to live in the fiery center of the Earth, whenever he is called he will arrive to grant one wish before returning to his fiery home to sleep until he is called again.[1] Before the events of Dragon Ball, the last time Shenron was summoned was to grant someone's wish to become king, as Bulma explains to Goku in their first meeting.[2][3]

Dragon Ball

Shenron summoned by Pilaf in the manga

Shenron is first summoned on-screen by Emperor Pilaf and his assistants in the Emperor Pilaf Saga outside of Pilaf's Castle. Pilaf collects the remaining Dragon Balls from Goku and his friends to ask Shenron for the wish to gain complete control over the entire planet, and become its ruler with an iron fist. However, before Pilaf can make the wish, Oolong interrupts the wish and wishes for panties, which Shenron grants. Shenron then departs, and the Dragon Balls scatter across the planet.

In the King Piccolo Saga, after King Piccolo uses the Dragon Balls to regain his youth, he murders Shenron before he can disperse to prevent anyone else from using the Dragon Balls against him. However, after his defeat, Kami revives Shenron to reward Goku for his valiant efforts against King Piccolo. He had originally decided not to recreate them, as he originally designed the balls to encourage acts of bravery and give people a sense of hope, but the selfishness and greed of mankind caused the Dragon Balls to be used in the exact opposite manner than that intended. It was only upon Goku displaying his undying love for his friends that he decided that there were, indeed, good people left in this world.

Dragon Ball Z

Shenron is summoned after Kid Buu's defeat

Shenron is summoned to revive Goku in order to defend the planet from the Saiyans. Shortly thereafter, Shenron is indirectly deactivated when Nappa kills Piccolo taking an attack meant for Gohan; due to Kami's connection to Piccolo, Kami ends up dying as well and the Dragon Balls are turned into stone as a result. The Eternal Dragon is indirectly revived by the Namekian Dragon Balls when Gohan and Krillin wish for Piccolo to be revived and transported to Namek. Shenron is later used to wish everyone who was killed by Frieza and his men on Namek.

A few years later, Shenron is temporarily deactivated when Kami decides to rejoin with Piccolo, due to extreme circumstances. After Dende's remodeling, Shenron is able to grant three wishes. However, since Dende is not powerful enough, Shenron can only fulfil two of the three wishes if a large number of people are revived using one of the wishes. Wishes can also be saved until the next summoning; in this case, the Dragon Balls would scatter around the world in the same way as if someone had spoken all the wishes but will remain as stones for only four months, after which Shenron can be summoned again to grant the remaining wishes. Afterward, the balls scatter and turn into stones for a whole year. This is shown when Shenron is summoned to revive everyone who were killed by Majin Vegeta. The wish saved is used four months after Kid Buu's defeat, in order to erase the memories that the people of Earth had of Majin Buu except for Goku's friends and family.

Dragon Ball GT

Shenron in Dragon Ball GT

In Dragon Ball GT, an evil dragon, known as Black Smoke Shenron in the English dub, is invocated from the cracked Dragon Balls (which were cracked because of Negative Energy), which emits seven individual dragons. Goku, along with his family and friends, are significantly inconvenienced and must battle them resulting in the Shadow Dragon Saga. After Goku and the other Z Warriors defeat the Shadow Dragons, Shenron appears without being summoned. He heals Goku's wounds and grants one last wish before he leaves the Earth with Goku and the Dragon Balls in order to recuperate and teach the Earth's inhabitants to stop relying on the Dragon Balls to solve their own problems.

One hundred years later, Shenron presumably returns, as the Four-Star Dragon Ball is seen again.

Dragon Ball Online

A Shenron in Dragon Ball Online

At some point after Kid Buu's defeat, Dende de-activates the Dragon Balls. However, around Age 1000, due to the threat of the Time Breakers, Dende re-activates the Dragon Balls in hopes of encouraging Earthlings to become stronger, bringing Shenron back. Dende also creates many more sets of Dragon Balls (and thus many more Shenrons) and spreads them across the planet, dividing the original Dragon Balls power between them.

Other appearances

Shenron's brief appearance in Dragonball Evolution

In 1990, Shenron is summoned by Goku on the TV show "Yamada Katsute Nai Wink" (やまだかつてないWink, "Yamada Katsute Nai Wink"). The dragon grants the J-Pop star and hostess Kuniko Yamada's wish to gain the ability to execute the Kamehameha, which she playfully uses on Goku. Shenron also appears in Dr. Slump, Cross Epoch, and Dragonball Evolution (called Shen Long). Shenron appears briefly at the end of Dragonball Evolution, where he is voiced by Christopher Sabat, who also voiced him in the FUNimation dub of the anime. After Master Roshi was killed by Oozaru, Goku, Yamcha and Bulma use all seven of the Dragon Balls to summon Shenron and ask him to resurrect Roshi, which Shenron does. After granting Goku's wish, Shenron vanishes, and so do the Dragon Balls.

Granting wishes

Main article: List of wishes granted by Shenron
Shenron can bestow any wish as long as it does not exceed the power of his creator, who must still be alive when he is summoned (i.e. Kami or Dende). He is unable to restore life to those that have died because of old age (but he can restore a person's youth), sickness or any other natural deaths. In the beginning of Dragon Ball Z, it is revealed that Shenron cannot grant the same wish more than once (e.g. bringing back those from the dead that have been killed before, etc.) and he also cannot grant a wish to defeat or kill a living being that surpasses the power of his creator (this means that the dragon can not kill an enemy that Kami or Dende themselves are incapable of killing). In the movie Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming, it is suggested that Shenron is capable of granting wishes without actually being summoned, demonstrated by him letting Goku join the battle against Broly.

In Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans, after Goku's resurrection and Kami's death, Mr. Popo creates his own set of Dragon Balls. Shenron, who has now more limited powers, can basically grant six different wishes. The first three, which can be asked for as many times as wanted, are a ton of EXP, a lot of AP and lots of Zeni. The other three give access to a new area (East City Ruins), to a unique item (Heavy Karate Outfit, which increases EXP by walking), and the access to the secret strongest boss in the game (Broly, found at Dragon Rock).

Shenron's original design changed over the course of the Dragon Ball timeline, as his underside changed from green to a more yellow or manila color.

After the Cell Games Saga, Shenron is able to grant three wishes (two if one is resurrecting a massive amount of people). Yet, he can grant three wishes in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn and he can grant only one in Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon. It should be noted that the Japanese version of Fusion Reborn mentioned two wishes (which may be due to the Dragon granting the one wish in the Majin Buu Saga to revive Vegeta's victims, but the other wish not being used so they could make another wish in 4 months), so the three wishes line was a dub error. Also, the second wish was omitted from the English version (they intended to use the second wish to revive all those who were killed by Hirudegarn).

After the time of the Majin Buu Arc, Porunga became stronger than Shenron, as he can resurrect several people at the same time, including people who had already been resurrected before.

In Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai, it is shown that his power cannot cross dimensions or timelines (which contradicts what is said in regards to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber during the Fusion Saga). Fusion Reborn also hints at this when he states that he cannot grant the Z Fighters' wish to prevent the dead from escaping Hell as it was a problem that originated within Other World, and although he is capable of moving the dead souls back to their dimension, they would simply just return.